Yamma Pit Fighting makes its debut

It took some getting used to at first, but Yamma Pit Fighting ended up being quite entertaining. The newly formed mixed martial arts league, created by UFC co-founder Bob Meyrowitz, made its debut Friday night at Trump Taj Mahal in Atlantic.

Photo by Sherdog.comHeavyweight Tarvis Wiuff dominates Chris Tuscherer on the ground Friday night during the finale of the Yamma Pit Fighting championship tournament. Wiuff won by unanimous decision.

Travis Wiuff won the eight-man, single-elimination heavyweight tournament with a unanimous decision over Chris Tuscherer. Most impressive about Wiuff's win was he dominated Tuscherer despite breaking his right hand in the first round.

Aside from the heavyweight tournament, fans were treated to two Masters super fights. Oleg Taktarov applied a knee-bar that forced Mark Kerr to tap out at 1:50 of the first round. Pat Smith pounded Eric 'Butterbean' Esch into submission at 3:17 of the opening round.

What separates Yamma Pit Fighting from other MMA operations is an incline at the base of the cage. This incline makes it easier for stronger fighters to take opponents down.

But the biggest drawback is fans seated at floor level can't see the action once fighters go to the ground. Too often fans had to stand in hopes of getting a glimpse of any ground-and-pound action. Despite their efforts, fans closest to the cage had to watch monitors in order to see the ground battles.

Now that he has a Yamma heavyweight champion (Wiuff), Meyrowitz is turning his attention toward crowning a middleweight king. Yamma will hold a middleweight tournament June 21 at a location to be named.